Who’s in charge?

“IT does not promote confidence in the working of the coalition government when its prominent leaders take contradictory stands in public on a vital issue like the ongoing operation in Khyber Agency. Prime Minister Gilani has defended the action saying it would have amounted to criminal negligence if incidents like the burning of girls’ schools and kidnapping and public executions by the militants were ignored. Leaders of the PML-N and JUI-F have however claimed that the operation was in fact initiated under the US pressure. What is surprising is that while the Prime Minister holds that the coalition partners were duly taken into confidence, the PML-N and JUI-F leaders maintain that the operation was started without their knowledge.” The Nation